Search form

Search

Battle Over Modernism Comes to Minneapolis

May 21, 2012, 9am PDT

Kathryn Shattuck reports on the fight to save downtown Minneapolis's decaying Peavey Plaza, which was recognized as one of the nation’s most significant examples of landscape architecture merely 13 years ago.

Designed by M. Paul Friedberg, and constructed in 1975, the two-acre outdoor public space offered "city dwellers an 'urban oasis' at a time when many Americans were re-embracing city life." A victim of neglect, and changing codes and functional requirements, "The plaza has become another battleground in the wars being fought around the country between preservationists determined to save what they see as underappreciated Modernist designs and cities and developers pushing to move on."

According to Shattuck, "Even as preservationists argue for rehabilitation
of what they consider the finest surviving example of Mr. Friedberg's
work, the City of Minneapolis, which owns 75 percent of it, has
commissioned a significant redesign of the space."